Somewhere, in a box, probably either water damaged, lost or given away, I have that issue of FF&R, I even remember that article only because the artwork and background pictures rarely changed in FF&R at the time and it was nice to see a 626 instead of the usual Gemini, Suzuki Swift GTi, RX-3 etc.

Good news! The thread is back from the dead as the image file size restriction has been lifted!

Now where were we....

Instead of having my 626 off the road for an unknown amount of time as I installed the new drivetrain I purchased another series 2 shell to work out the "installation kit." The main outcome I wanted was if the engine ever expired, I could just drop another series 5 RX-7 engine with minimal changes to the engine. Most 626 rotary conversions (like my first one) use a front mounting arrangement, however I wanted to maintain the side mounting arrangement of the Series 5 RX-7 13B turbo. Further, I did not want to change the position of the turbo and fabricate to new exhaust manifold. So the first thing to do was to remove the broken MA 2-litre drivetrain and see how the 13BT fitted best around the standard 626 steering and suspension components.

April 1999

It was pretty obvious that to retain the side mounting arrangement of the 13BT the standard 626 front crossmember needed to be remanufactured. If I went to a front mount arrangement I'd have to change the sump for an early model 13B anyway. This was the best solution...the cut the straight centre section out of the crossmember after jigging the outboard lower arm pick-up points, and fabricate a new section that wraps around the sump. The material used was schedule 80 50NB pipe...plenty strong and moreso, plenty stiff...I also added a locating ring for safe jacking of the car. Here's the result...

May 1999

I couldn't use the factory series 5 RX-7 mounts as the chassis rails were too close together on the 626...so I made my own engine mount brackets for the engine. IIRC I used a pair of new Ford V8 engine mounts in opposing orientations, hence the different brackets on the modified front cross-member.

So with the engine sitting on place the next thing to do was to sort out the cooling system (radiator & intercooler). I really wanted to use as much of the standard series 5 RX-7 items as possible....or at worst modify them to fit (along as it was cheaper than making a completely new item).

July 1999

To get the shift lifter in the best position I did the usual remote shifter housing shortening mod...

August 1999

Here's the engine trimmed down to the bare essentials and a nice little dump pipe stubthat clears the steering box...

Here's a recored series 5 RX-7 oil cooler (shorter but still has the thermostat)....

September 1999

By the end of September 1999 it was starting to come together with all the ancillary components finding a home. The wiring was also underway as I was also using the factory computer (this was necessary for compliance).

The wiring took many weeks to sort out....especially when I could only work on the car for a few hours every Saturday morning...getting engaged might have had a bit to do with that as well! .

November 1999

I can't exactly remember when I got it running in the donor shell... but I'm pretty sure it was before the turn of the millenium!!!

Nice update, still reading though it. Your 626 is a more epic build than my Rx3, you've been at for well over 10 years, I'm only approaching the 7 or 8 year mark. I find it best if I don't keep tabs on the time I've spent working on it

A couple of questions I have, did you end up TIG welding the worlds longest intercooler piping ? Also who recored your oil cooler ? I asked a couple of places years ago (10+) and I was told they couldn't do it, which I couldn't understand. After seeing that you managed to do it I'll call around again, most oil coolers today have a fair bit damage from years of use. Makes sense to recore an original and have it look and perform like new again. I know you can buy aftermarket ones pretty cheap these days but it's not the same, they look completely different.

Nice update, still reading though it. Your 626 is a more epic build than my Rx3, you've been at for well over 10 years, I'm only approaching the 7 or 8 year mark. I find it best if I don't keep tabs on the time I've spent working on it

Hi gypsy, yeah Rome wasn't built in a day was it! Yeah the build as you will see (as I get time to populate the thread), extended right to 2005 with only minor improvements and general maintenance after that. I've now owned the 626 for 21 years next month.

gypsy wrote:

A couple of questions I have, did you end up TIG welding the worlds longest intercooler piping ?

Yes, the intercooler pipe work was TIG welded.

gypsy wrote:

Also who recored your oil cooler ? I asked a couple of places years ago (10+) and I was told they couldn't do it, which I couldn't understand. After seeing that you managed to do it I'll call around again, most oil coolers today have a fair bit damage from years of use. Makes sense to recore an original and have it look and perform like new again. I know you can buy aftermarket ones pretty cheap these days but it's not the same, they look completely different.

Yes, it takes someone with a lot of skill and patience to cut the tanks off without losing too much tank volume. From 1999 through to 2004 I did a fair bit of R&D work (on the side) for Aluminium Radiators and Engineering (ARE) here in Brisbane so I was able to get Richard Anderson (owner) to re-core the series 5 RX-7 oil cooler and modify the intercooler for me as remuneration. I'm sure he has done it since and could do it again.

The year 2001 saw plenty of progress and with the advent of the digital camera so did the quantity of photos that documented the progress.

This is the in-line (top radiator hose) cooling system fill point.

...and this is the re-cored (shortened) 2nd gen RX-7 oil cooler with the thermostat retained.

A couple of piccies of the 2nd gen top mounted intercooler after being modified to be used as a front mount.

The CB2MS 626's have very shallow noses so there really isn't enough room for an air to air intercooler, an oil cooler and a radiator fitted with a rather larger thermofan. Soooo I mounted it horizontally and low between the radiator and the engine. It was mounted to the engine so that the hoses didn't have to absorb any relative movement that happens when the oil cooler is mounted to the body.

Here's some piccies of the intercooler and it's mounting detail. I added a small thermo-fan that would turn on when either the park brake was on (ignition powered) or when the foot brake was applied; especially when sitting a traffic lights. This was to cool the intercooler unit when there was no ambient air flow. I think the fan motor blocked more air flow when the car was moving than creating any benefit when the car was stationary. Oh well, it was an idea that I tested and then discarded!

Well it's not quite the Xmas/New Year break...but a rather wet and windy day with not much else to do!

Circa 2001....time to upgrade the brakes

Sneaky hole as a cold air intake in the front fascia panel which is hidden by the front bumper.

My custom front brake upgrade kit using FC RX-7 rotor and caliper.

Custom caliper bracket

Rebuilt ceramic coated caliper and modified front hub

Caliper bracket fitted to the front upright

Powder coated and re-bushed lower arm

Brake rotor and caliper installed

The other side...

Next was the rear brakes....again I used the FC RX-7 rear caliper and rotor

Caliper bracket template

Trail fitment of the laser cut bracket prior to zinc plating and the addition of studs to the rear axle.

Ceramic coated rear caliper slide bracket

Rear brake rotor painted with hi-temp paint

Custom zinc plated rear caliper bracket installed

Custom cooling system header tank with temperature gauge sender unit and thermo-fan switch. This allowed an modified FC RX-7 radiator top tank to work in an upright position (as they are normally inclinded). This was also the fill point for the cooling system as it was the highest point.

I fabricated the intercooler plumbing from 2" 304 stainless steel tube and had it TIG welded.

From the turbo to the intercooler

From the intercooler to the inlet manifold

Initially I didn't recirculate the blow-off/bypass valve

The turbo dump pipe, catalytic convertor and mid-pipe was next on the agenda....

The exhaust system was fabricated predominantly from mild steel tube and mandrel bends and then ceramic coated for longevity and exhaust gas heat retention. As you can see in the below photo, the standard series 5 RX-7 turbo is close to the chassis rail but has plenty of clearance for engine rotation under hard acceleration. It is also leaves a reasonable air gap to the steering box.

The dump pipe was made from a 3" mandrel bend that I slotted at 90 degree spacing to reduce it down to the turbo's exhaust housing outlet diameter.

This is how the dump pipe finished up after ceramic coating.

Next in the exhaust system was the catalytic convertor. It has 3" inlet and outlet that I flanged.

After the catalytic convertor the exhaust continued at 3" to the 2.5" front muffler. I used a reducer right at the inlet to the front muffler. So from here the rest of the exhaust system was 2.5" in diameter and uses the same front muffler I had when the engine was naturally aspirated. I manufactured a new straight through rear muffler of the same construction.

The below photos show the rest of the exhaust system.

The dash gained an extra gauge as well!

So by the end of 2001 the 626 was getting pretty close to hitting road once again.